When the BlackBerry debuted in 1999, carrying one was a hallmark of powerful executives and savvy technophiles. People who purchased one either needed or wanted constant access to e-mail, a calendar and a phone. The BlackBerry's manufacturer, Research in Motion (RIM), reported only 25,000 subscribers in that first year. But since then, its popularity has skyrocketed.
Many BlackBerry subscribers rely on the device to carry out daily operations -- things they used to do without technology. Who are those subscribers? In 2004, the BlackBerry Enterprise Server was installed in more than 17,000 companies and government organizations worldwide and counted more than 100,000 government personnel among its users [source: BNET].
An inability to access e-mail or the Internet for a BlackBerry-dependent hospital, for example, could prevent doctors from being able to get orders and prescribe drugs. An interruption in communication among BlackBerry-using emergency crews might keep personnel from being able to access important evacuation plans or emergency call lists.
Still not convinced? After the major outage in April 2007, a poll measuring the prevalence of mobile e-mail at large organizations found that 81 percent of respondents experienced noticeable disruptions in their company's operations [source: Rendleman].
They may not have known about PIN-to-PIN communication. This system allows BlackBerry users to contact one another even if e-mail and Internet service are down. Each BlackBerry has a unique PIN, or personal identification number, and users can send messages to one another with that. PIN messages aren't routed through the e-mail account, so they aren't affected by problems with the server or at the operation centers.
Whether BlackBerry outages will continue as users increase remains to be seen. As of press time RIM hadn't made changes to its infrastructure, but with revenue up 98 percent in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008, it might be able to afford them. Some observers of the smartphone market speculate that the outages will drive away RIM's customers, but others think that the BlackBerry's benefits outweigh the cost of an occasional blackout. If RIM's recent numbers are any indication, the company will weather the outages just fine. Despite competition from the Apple iPhone, RIM sold a record number of the devices during its fourth quarter [source: Long].
RIM Revenue
* 1999: $47,342,000
* 2005: $1,350,447,000
Source:
2000 RIM Annual Report
France Gives the BlackBerry a Black Eye Government officials in France are not quite as lucky as their BlackBerry-toting North American counterparts. Due to concerns over espionage, the French government has advised French officials not to use the popular handhelds. French defense experts fear that e-mails passing through servers in either Canada or the U.K. are vulnerable to spying by the U.S. National Security Agency. RIM responded that BlackBerry e-mails are even more heavily encrypted than those of online banking Web sites and cannot be read by anyone, but the French aren't taking any chances. Ironically, part of the device's appeal to the U.S. government and other top officials is that it is accredited by security agencies in several countries [source: Associated Press].
Moreover blackberry has caused some serious Problems to the internal security of our country.This facility is being used by more than 4lakh users in india.Only Airtel ,Reliance ,Vodafone have been Provided with license for this facility.while the requests made by Tata and BSNL has been put down by our ministry of communication.
the reason that the ministry has released for its action is that , 'the sms tracking facility that are shared using Blackberry is not present in india,so there is a danger that it could be helpful for the terrorists,they can easily share their plans with secrecy and without being caught so that our home ministry to use this facility safely in india requested server system to be created in india and also its master key.But RIM strictly refused to provide both,so our home ministry asked RIM not to provide this facility in india so your application has been put down'.
But through Airtel Reliance and Vodafone more than for lakh customers has been using Blackberry ,details about whether their connections will be diconnected or not is not provided by the communication ministry.at this stage siddharth bhakura of communication ministry has commented about blackberry which further increases our worries.In delhi during a function he told the reporters that blackberry will not affect our internal security and moreover the communication ministry has not prevented any organisation from getting license to provide blackberry to its customers.this shocked the officials of the defence ministry,they opine that bakhura has expressed his opinion which is exactly opposite to the reason what the defence ministry has said,this will question the security of the nation it is essential that this facility should be traced ,there should not be any compromise regarding this'.........
On the other side if the server is created in india the main intention of blackberry which is privacy will be lost.more over our officials would track the phones of opposition party leaders in the name tracking the terrorists. Another question will also come to our mind if blackberry is not an problem to our internal security then what is the problem in providing this service to all the companies,this may also be one of the steps to decline the growth of BSNL.............anyway we have to wait till the blackberry mystery solves.............
No comments:
Post a Comment